Search for Flight MH370 shifts further south

The aircraft has now been missing for more than three months. File photo / Getty Images

Australian officials say the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane will shift farther south of the most recent suspected crash site in a remote stretch of Indian Ocean.

They also say they are confident the missing plane was flying on autopilot before the crash.

Transport Minister Warren Truss told reporters in Canberra on Thursday that the new search area is based on fresh analysis of existing satellite data from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The plane vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 passengers and crew aboard.

The shift was expected.

The head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said last week it would move south of an area where a remote-controlled underwater drone spent weeks fruitlessly scouring 850 square kilometres of seabed.